JP6327966B2 - MEDICAL IMAGE DISPLAY DEVICE, DISPLAY CONTROL DEVICE, DISPLAY CONTROL METHOD, PROGRAM - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a display control device and a display control method for medical images, a medical image display device using the display control device, and a program.

  At medical sites, medical images are captured by medical imaging apparatuses such as an X-ray CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus, an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatus, and a PET (Positron Emission Tomography) apparatus. Medical image data obtained by imaging is subjected to various image processing and stored in a hospital data server for a certain period. A doctor's image diagnosis work is performed by using a medical image display device (also called a viewer) to retrieve target medical image data and displaying it on a monitor, and using various functions of the medical image display device. Is called.

  FIG. 13A is an example of a screen configuration diagram of a general medical image display apparatus. The thumbnail display area 1101 is an area for displaying at least one medical image data imaged in the past and present in a patient as thumbnails, and the thumbnails 1103 to 1107 are thumbnails created from each medical image data. The main image display area 1102 is an area for displaying an image that is to be interpreted by the user. By displaying an image in the main image display area 1102, an enlarged / reduced function of the entire image, a density value conversion function, a parallel movement function of a display position, a figure drawing function, a density value measuring function, etc. Various functions of the medical image display apparatus can be used.

  The main image display area 1102 can be divided into a plurality of areas, and different images can be simultaneously displayed in each of the divided areas. The main image display area 1102 in FIG. 13 is divided into four areas 1108 to 1111. Hereinafter, the divided areas of the main image display area (for example, areas 1108 to 1111) are simply referred to as display areas. The user performs interpretation by displaying medical image data to be interpreted or medical image data to be referred to in an arbitrary display area. FIG. 13B is an example of a general technique for displaying arbitrary medical image data in an arbitrary display area. By dragging and dropping an arbitrary thumbnail (for example, thumbnail 1103) onto an arbitrary display area (for example, display area 1109), medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail (for example, thumbnail 1103) is displayed in an arbitrary display area (for example, display area). 1109).

  On the other hand, in medical image data, even if the area is displayed in the same image, the optimal display conditions differ depending on the anatomically classified area (anatomical area). The image display condition is changed according to the area of the image, and the image is displayed and interpreted. For example, the display condition is changed using a known density value conversion function of the medical image display apparatus. Here, the density value conversion function is a function of converting each grayscale pixel value according to a predetermined rule. In general, a CT image is expressed by a 12-bit gradation (4,096 gradation) HU (Hounsfield Unit) value per pixel, and this HU value is stored as a pixel value. When a doctor observes a CT image, a pixel value (HU value) of 12-bit gradation is set to an 8-bit floor using two density conversion parameters of WL (Window Level) and WW (Window Width) defined in the DICOM standard. Converted to a key and displayed on the display. This makes it easy to see the difference (density difference) in the HU values of specific organs and tissues. In addition to CT images (MRI images, PET images, ultrasonic images, etc.), density conversion similar to the above is performed in order to make the difference in pixel values (density difference) easy to see. More specifically, in CT images of the same chest region, WL is set to −600 and WW is set to 1500 when it is desired to observe the lung field region in detail. If the mediastinum region is to be observed in detail, WL is set to 60 and WW is set to 400. When it is desired to observe the bone region in detail, WL is set to 500 and WW is set to 2500.

  Patent Document 1 describes that an image display condition is changed by designating an arbitrary region of three-dimensional volume data. According to this technique, it is possible to efficiently display a CT image under display conditions corresponding to a designated region, and thus it is possible to reduce the user's trouble.

JP 2011-217947 A

  However, even if the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is used, it is necessary to change display conditions after dragging and dropping a target thumbnail to the main image display area, and there is a problem that it takes time to interpret. Note that the drag-and-drop here means that, as described with reference to FIG. 13B, the image is selected after moving the mouse pointer over the thumbnail, and the mouse pointer is moved over the main image display area. Refers to the release operation.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to display arbitrary medical image data under display conditions suitable for a region to be observed with a simple operation.

In order to achieve the above object, a display control apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention has the following arrangement. That is,
A display control device for displaying medical image data,
Generating means for generating a thumbnail for selecting the medical image data using a reduced image obtained from the medical image data;
In accordance with the anatomical region obtained from the medical image data, setting means for setting a partial region in the thumbnail,
An acquisition means for acquiring a display condition corresponding to the partial area specified by the instruction in response to an instruction to select the displayed thumbnail;
Display control means for causing the display means to display the medical image data using the display condition acquired by the acquisition means in response to the instruction.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to display arbitrary medical image data under display conditions suitable for the region to be observed with a simple operation.

1 is a block diagram of a medical image display system according to a first embodiment. The flowchart explaining the whole process of 1st Embodiment. (A), (B) is the figure which showed the example of the screen structure which concerns on 1st Embodiment, (C) is a figure explaining the management of matching of a partial area | region and an anatomical area | region. FIGS. 8A to 8C are diagrams showing examples of screen configurations when thumbnail divided areas are selected. FIGS. The figure which showed the example of the screen structure which concerns on the modification 1 of 1st Embodiment. The block diagram of the medical image display system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. The flowchart explaining the whole process of 2nd Embodiment. (A), (B) is the figure which showed the example of the screen structure which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. The block diagram of the medical image display system which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. The flowchart explaining the whole process of 3rd Embodiment. The figure explaining the input method of the direction information with respect to a thumbnail. (A), (B) is a figure explaining the relationship between the input range of direction information, and the display area to select. (A) is a figure which shows an example of the screen structure of a general medical image display apparatus, (B) is a figure which shows the example which displayed medical image data in the main image display area.

  Several embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the scope of the invention is not limited to the illustrated examples.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a medical image display system according to the first embodiment. The medical image display system includes a medical image display device 10 for displaying medical image data, and a database 22 for storing medical image data, and these devices are connected to be communicable with each other. In the present embodiment, a LAN (Local Area Network) 21 is used for communication between the medical image display apparatus 10 and the database 22. The database 22 manages examination information such as medical image data, and the medical image display apparatus 10 acquires and displays the medical image data managed in the database 22 via the LAN 21.

  The medical image display apparatus 10 includes, as its functional configuration, a communication IF (Interface) 31, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 32, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 33, a storage unit 34, an operation unit 35, a display unit 36, and a control. Part 37. The communication IF 31 is realized by, for example, a LAN card or the like, and manages communication between an external apparatus (for example, the database 22) and the medical image display apparatus 10 via the LAN 21. The ROM 32 is realized by a nonvolatile memory or the like and stores various programs and the like. The RAM 33 is realized by a volatile memory or the like, and temporarily stores various information. The storage unit 34 is realized by, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or the like, and stores various types of information. The operation unit 35 is realized by, for example, a keyboard and a mouse, and inputs an instruction from the user into the apparatus. The display unit 36 is realized by, for example, a display or the like, and displays various types of information toward a user (for example, a doctor).

  The control unit 37 is an example of a display control device that controls display of medical image data, and is realized by, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like, and performs overall control of processing in the medical image display device 10. The control unit 37 includes a medical image acquisition unit 41, an image region acquisition unit 42, a thumbnail creation unit 43, a selection region acquisition unit 44, and a display processing unit 45 as its functional configuration.

  The medical image acquisition unit 41 acquires the medical image data of the case from the database 22 via the communication IF 31 and the LAN 21, and outputs it to the image region acquisition unit 42, the thumbnail creation unit 43, and the display processing unit 45. The image area acquisition unit 42 performs image processing to be described later on the medical image data acquired from the medical image acquisition unit 41, and anatomically classified areas in the medical image data (hereinafter referred to as anatomical areas). ), The area information is acquired and output to the thumbnail creation unit 43.

  The thumbnail creation unit 43 uses the reduced image of the medical image data of the case acquired by the medical image acquisition unit 41 and the information on the anatomical region in the medical image data acquired by the image region acquisition unit 42. A thumbnail of the case is created and output to the display processing unit 45. The selection area acquisition unit 44 acquires selection area information selected by the user via the operation unit 35 for the thumbnail displayed on the display unit 36 and outputs the selection area information to the display processing unit 45. The display processing unit 45 displays the thumbnail created by the thumbnail creation unit 43 on the display unit 36. In addition, the display processing unit 45 acquires a medical image in the main image display region (for example, the main image display region 102 in FIG. 3A) of the display unit 36 according to the selection region information acquired by the selection region acquisition unit 44. The medical image data of the case acquired from the unit 41 is displayed.

  Note that at least a part of the above-described units included in the control unit 37 may be realized as an independent device. Moreover, each may be implement | achieved as software which implement | achieves a function. In the present embodiment, each unit is assumed to be realized by software.

  Next, an overall processing procedure by the control unit 37 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed by the control unit 37. FIG. 3A and FIG. 4A are examples of screens displayed on the display unit 36 by processing to be described later. FIGS. 3B, 4B, and 4C are enlarged views of the thumbnails 103 shown in FIGS. 3A and 4A, respectively.

  In FIG. 3A and FIG. 4A, thumbnails are displayed in the thumbnail display area 101. The thumbnails 103 to 107 are display examples of thumbnails created by the thumbnail creation unit 43. The main image display area 102 is an area for displaying medical image data corresponding to the selected thumbnail. The main image display area 102 is divided into a plurality of display areas for displaying medical image data. In the present embodiment, the main image display area 102 is divided into four display areas 108 to 111. In the following, medical image data of an X-ray CT image of the chest region will be described as an example, but of course, the medical image data targeted by the present invention is not limited to this.

  In step S <b> 200 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2, the medical image acquisition unit 41 reads medical image data from the database 22 via the communication IF 31 and the LAN 21. In step S201, the image region acquisition unit 42 extracts an anatomical region from the medical image data read in step S200, and acquires the region information. Extraction of the anatomical region is performed as follows, for example.

  First, the image area acquisition unit 42 performs noise removal on medical image data using a smoothing filter. Next, binarization processing is performed using a predetermined threshold (for example, HU value: -200) with respect to the pixel value of the image to separate the in-vivo region and the external region. Further, inside the body region, the bone region and the other region are separated using another threshold (for example, HU value: 300). Further, in the other regions, the lung field region and the soft region are separated using another threshold value (for example, HU value: -500). The extraction process of the anatomical region is not limited to this method as long as the region determined from the read medical image data can be extracted. For example, an anatomical region may be extracted using a known organ segmentation process such as a graph cut process. Further, for example, as shown in Table 1, correspondence between image information obtained from a DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine) header or the like and a region to be extracted is set in advance and the region to be extracted is included in the medical image data. The extraction area corresponding to the image information to be extracted is extracted. As shown in Table 1, the anatomical region to be extracted from the medical image data is determined based on the modality used for imaging the medical image data and the imaging site.

  In step S202, the thumbnail creation unit 43 creates a thumbnail by the following process. First, the thumbnail creation unit 43 creates image data corresponding to the medical image data read out in step S200 (hereinafter, “corresponding image data”). Here, when the read medical image data is two-dimensional medical image data (one slice image), the corresponding image data is the slice image itself or an image obtained by cutting out a part thereof. On the other hand, when the read medical image data is three-dimensional medical image data (a plurality of slice images), the corresponding image data is a slice image representing the three-dimensional medical image data, or a predetermined position (for example, the first one). ) Slice image. Alternatively, an image obtained by cutting out a part of the slice image may be used. Here, the slice image representing the three-dimensional medical image data is a slice image including all of the extraction regions predetermined according to the image information of the medical image data as shown in Table 1, or the most types of slice images. A slice image including the extraction region may be used. Thereafter, the thumbnail creation unit 43 generates a reduced image from the corresponding image data, and generates a thumbnail using the generated reduced image.

  Next, the thumbnail creation unit 43 extracts a partial region from the thumbnail according to the anatomical region extracted in step S201. For example, when an extracorporeal region, lung field region, soft region, and bone region are acquired in step S201, and those regions are included in the corresponding image data, the thumbnail creation unit 43 corresponds to these regions from the reduced image. Extract a partial area. Then, a dividing line (a broken line in FIG. 3B) indicating the boundary of the partial area is generated so that the extracted partial area can be visually recognized. Then, a thumbnail in which a dividing line is drawn or displayed on the reduced image is created. The dividing line 112 in FIG. 3B divides the extracorporeal region and the in vivo region, the dividing line 113 divides the lung field region and the soft part region, and the dividing line 114 divides the bone region and the soft part region. . Thus, the partial areas 122 to 124 divided by the dividing lines 112 to 114 are set in the thumbnail 103. Thus, the thumbnail creation unit 43 sets the partial areas 122 to 124 as shown in FIG. 3B, for example, and manages the correspondence between the partial areas and the anatomical areas as shown in FIG. To do.

  When there are a plurality of medical image data read out in step S200, the thumbnail creation unit 43 performs the above-described processing for all medical image data, and creates thumbnails for all medical image data. The display processing unit 45 displays the thumbnails created by the thumbnail creation unit 43 side by side in the thumbnail display area. In the example of FIG. 3A, thumbnails 103 to 107 are displayed in the thumbnail display area 101.

  In step S <b> 203, the selection area acquisition unit 44 acquires information indicating the partial area of the thumbnail selected by the user using the operation unit 35. For example, when the user clicks the partial region 123 of the thumbnail 103 using a pointing device (not shown) (for example, a mouse), the selection region acquisition unit 44 acquires information indicating the clicked partial region 123. Examples of screens on the display unit 36 at the time of this operation are shown in FIGS. An arrow 115 is a pointer (for example, a mouse pointer) operated by the pointing device, and represents the current position of the input indicated by the operation unit 35.

  In step S204, the display processing unit 45 displays the medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail selected in step S203 on the main image display region 102 under display conditions suitable for the anatomical region of the partial region specified at the time of selection. To display. In the example of FIG. 4B, the partial area 123 (lung area) of the thumbnail 103 is selected by the arrow 115, and for example, medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail 103 is displayed in the display area 108 as shown in FIG. Are displayed under display conditions suitable for observing the lung field. Furthermore, FIG. 4C shows a state in which the thumbnail 104 is selected by the arrow 115 and the partial area 131 corresponding to the soft area is specified. In this case, medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail 104 is displayed in the display area 110 in the main image display area 102 under display conditions suitable for observing the inside of the soft part area.

  Here, in which display area of the plurality of display areas (for example, display areas 108 to 111) the medical image data corresponding to the selected thumbnail is displayed is determined according to a predetermined rule. For example, the state of each display area (whether or not an image is currently displayed) is acquired, and if there is a display area where no image is displayed, medical image data is displayed with priority over that display area. The Further, when images are already displayed in all display areas, they may always be displayed in a predetermined display area (for example, the upper left display area). Alternatively, medical image data may be displayed in a display area in which an image displayed at a past time point in the past is displayed. For example, a display area for displaying new medical image data may be determined so as to repeat the order of display area 108 → display area 109 → display area 110 → display area 111. Alternatively, new medical image data may be displayed in a display area in which an image in which the operation performed by the user is the past time point in the past is displayed. If another medical image data is already displayed in the display area that is the display destination of the medical image data corresponding to the selected thumbnail, the display of the other medical image data is deleted, and then the corresponding medical image data is displayed. Data is displayed.

  In step S <b> 205, the control unit 37 determines whether there is an instruction to end interpretation from the user via the operation unit 35. The instruction to end the interpretation is given when the user clicks an interpretation end button (not shown). If there is an instruction to end the interpretation, the processing in FIG. If there is no instruction to end the interpretation, the process returns to step S203.

  As described above, according to the medical image display apparatus according to the first embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, by selecting an arbitrary partial area of an arbitrary thumbnail, medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail can be displayed in the main image display area under display conditions corresponding to the selected partial area. Therefore, since the medical image data can be displayed in the main image display area in accordance with an appropriate display condition at the time of interpretation by the operation of selecting arbitrary medical image data, the medical image display device with less user effort and A medical image display method can be provided.

(Modification 1)
In the present embodiment, the example in which the density value (HU value) of the image is changed (gradation conversion) corresponding to the partial region of the thumbnail selected in step S204 has been described. However, the display condition to be changed is not limited to the density value. For example, the medical image data may be displayed in the display area by using an enlargement / reduction function of the entire image, a parallel movement function of the display position, a graphic drawing function, a density value measurement function, and the like as display conditions. FIG. 5 shows a display example when the left lung field region of the thumbnail 103 is selected. First, medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail 103 is subjected to gradation conversion using density values suitable for the lung field (for example, WL: -600, WW: 1500), and is matched with the gradation that can be displayed by the display unit 36. Let Further, the display position of the medical image data is translated so that the left lung field is displayed at the center position of the display area 108. Further, medical image data in a state where the entire image is enlarged to a size that allows easy observation of the left lung field is displayed in the display area 108. Then, a histogram of density values in the left lung field calculated using a known density value measurement function is displayed in the display area 110.

  Here, for example, as shown in Table 2, the display condition corresponding to the selected area is set in advance by image information obtained from the DICOM header or the like and the selected thumbnail division area. As shown in Table 2, display conditions are determined in accordance with the modality in which medical image data is imaged and its imaging region. Then, the medical image data corresponding to the selected thumbnail is displayed in the main image display area under display conditions corresponding to the image information of the medical image data and the selected partial area. The enlargement ratio Fit in Table 2 is an enlargement ratio at which the corresponding area becomes the largest size. The center of translation in Table 2 is such that the corresponding area is displayed at the center of the display area. This is a condition for moving the entire image in parallel.

(Modification 2)
In the present embodiment, in step S204, the display area where the medical image data corresponding to the selected thumbnail is displayed is selected according to a predetermined rule, but is not limited thereto. For example, the user may be able to specify a display area for displaying medical image data by dragging and dropping thumbnails into an arbitrary display area within the main image display area. More specifically, the pointer (arrow 115) is moved on an arbitrary partial area on an arbitrary thumbnail and then dragging is started, and the pointer is moved on an arbitrary display area and released (dropped). By implementing the second modification, medical image data corresponding to an arbitrary thumbnail is displayed in an appropriate display condition (appropriate for the anatomical region corresponding to the partial region specified by the pointer at the start of dragging) Display conditions).

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to simultaneously specify medical image data to be displayed in the main image display area and display conditions at that time. Can be reduced. In the second modification, in addition to the designation of medical image data and the designation of display conditions, the display area can be selected by a simple operation, and the operability is further improved.

  In the above embodiment, the main image display area 102 is equally divided into four. However, the number of divisions is not limited to four. For example, as shown in FIG. May not be uniform. Further, the main image display area may not be divided. In this case, the recently selected medical image data (one medical image) is displayed in the main image display area under display conditions corresponding to the partial area specified when the thumbnail is selected. In the above embodiment, the partial areas in the thumbnail are clearly shown by the dividing lines 112 to 114, but drawing or overlay display of these dividing lines may be omitted. However, by displaying the dividing lines 112 to 114 on the thumbnail, the user can more clearly recognize the divided area in the thumbnail. The image information and display conditions described here are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to this example.

[Second Embodiment]
In the first embodiment, a partial region corresponding to the anatomical region of medical image data is set in the thumbnail. In the medical image display apparatus according to the second embodiment, the thumbnail is further divided into a plurality of divided areas according to the division condition of the main image display area. Then, medical image data corresponding to the selected thumbnail can be displayed in an arbitrary display area under an appropriate display condition in accordance with the divided area specified when the thumbnail is selected.

  FIG. 6 shows a configuration example of the medical image display apparatus 10 according to the second embodiment. Compared to the configuration example (FIG. 1) of the medical image display apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment, a division condition acquisition unit 46 is added. The illustrated components other than the division condition acquisition unit 46 are the same as the respective components in FIG. The division condition acquisition unit 46 acquires division conditions for a plurality of display areas in the main image display area displayed on the display unit 36 and outputs them to the display processing unit 45. In addition, as in the first embodiment, each unit is realized by software.

  Next, a processing procedure performed by the control unit 37 in the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating processing executed by the control unit 37. FIG. 8A is an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 36 by a process described later. FIG. 8B is an enlarged view of the thumbnail 103 image shown in FIG.

  The process of step S700 is the same as the process of step S200 in the first embodiment. In step S <b> 701, the division condition acquisition unit 46 acquires the division condition for the main image display area displayed on the display unit 36. For example, when the number of divisions of the main image display area is l, the number of rows n is m, and the number of columns is m, in the divided state of the main image display area 102 as shown in FIG. 8A, (l, n, m) = (4, 2, 2) is acquired. The division condition acquisition method described here is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this example.

  The process of step S702 is the same as the process of step S201 in the first embodiment. In the process of step S703, the following process is performed in addition to the process of step S202 in the first embodiment. The thumbnail creation unit 43 divides the thumbnail according to the division condition acquired in step S701. For example, when (l, n, m) = (4, 2, 2) is acquired in step S701, the thumbnail creation unit 43 similarly uses (l, n, m) = (4, 2, 2) for the thumbnail. ). That is, according to the arrangement of the plurality of display areas of the main image display area, the reduced image constituting the thumbnail is divided to form a plurality of divided areas, and each of the plurality of divided areas and the plurality of display areas of the main image display area Associate each of. For example, in the case of this example, as shown in FIG. 8B, divided regions 116 to 119 are obtained and are associated with the display regions 108 to 111, respectively. Subsequently, a dividing line (L10 in FIG. 8B) in which the divided area can be visually recognized is generated, and a thumbnail in which the dividing line is drawn or displayed on the reduced image is created.

  In the thumbnail 103 of FIG. 8B, partial areas are extracted from the reduced image constituting the thumbnail in accordance with the anatomical area acquired in step S702, and partial areas 122 to 124 are obtained. Further, the reduced images constituting the thumbnail 103 are divided according to the division condition of the main image display area 102, and divided areas 116 to 119 are obtained. In this way, as shown in FIG. 8B, a thumbnail 103 is created in which the dividing lines 112 to 114 and the dividing line L10 are drawn or overlaid on the reduced image.

  In step S704, the control unit 37 acquires the division condition of the main image display area, and determines whether the division condition has been changed. Note that the division condition of the main image display area 102 can be changed by a user instruction via the operation unit 35. The method for changing the number of divisions is realized by a known technique possessed by a conventional medical image viewer, and thus description thereof is omitted. If it is determined in step S704 that there is no change in the division condition, the process proceeds to step S705. If it is determined that the division condition has been changed, the process returns to step S701.

The process of step S705 is the same as the process of step S203 in the first embodiment. However, the acquired selection area information is the following two area information. That is,
First area information divided by anatomical area information (that is, any one of the partial areas 122 to 124 in the example of FIG. 8).
Second area information divided under the main image display area division conditions (that is, any one of the divided areas 116 to 119 in the example of FIG. 8).

  In step S706, the display processing unit 45 displays the medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail selected in step S705 under the display condition corresponding to the first area information selected in step S705, corresponding to the second area information. Display in the area. In the example of FIG. 8B, the arrow 115 indicates a portion belonging to the divided region 119 of the partial region 123 that is the lung field region. Therefore, the partial area 123 (lung area) of the thumbnail 103 is selected as the first area information, and the divided area 119 (lower right area) is obtained as the second area information. As a result, as shown in FIG. 8A, the medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail 103 is displayed under display conditions suitable for observing the lung field (for example, WL: -600, WW: 1500). It is displayed in the area 111. If another image data has already been displayed in the display area 111, the display processing unit 45 deletes the already displayed image data from the display area 111, and then medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail 103. Is displayed.

  The process of step S707 is the same process as the process of step S205 in the first embodiment, and it is determined whether or not there is an instruction to end interpretation. If there is an instruction to end the interpretation, the process of FIG. 7 is terminated. If there is no instruction to end the interpretation, the process returns to step S704.

  As described above, according to the medical image display apparatus according to the second embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. That is, by selecting an arbitrary partial area and a divided area of an arbitrary thumbnail, medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail is displayed under a display condition corresponding to the selected partial area and a display area corresponding to the selected divided area. Can be displayed. Accordingly, since any medical image data can be displayed in an arbitrary display area under an appropriate display condition at the time of interpretation, it is possible to reduce the user's trouble.

  Note that a dividing line indicating division of the main image display area (for example, L10 in FIG. 8B) may be omitted. For example, as shown in FIG. 8A, if the division state of the main image display area 102 is not so complicated, even if the dividing line L10 is omitted, the user can reduce the image that forms thumbnails with the four display areas 108 to 111. This is because the correspondence with the upper position can be grasped.

[Third Embodiment]
In the selection of thumbnails, the medical image display apparatus according to the third embodiment selects an arbitrary partial area of a reduced image constituting a thumbnail and obtains direction information. In the third embodiment, medical image data corresponding to the selected thumbnail is displayed on the basis of the direction information of the plurality of display areas of the main image display area under display conditions suitable for the anatomical area of the selected partial area. Display in the specified display area.

  FIG. 9 shows a configuration example of the medical image display apparatus according to the present embodiment. Compared to the configuration example (FIG. 6) according to the second embodiment, a direction acquisition unit 47 is added. Each component other than the direction acquisition unit 47 is the same as each component in FIG. The direction acquisition unit 47 acquires the direction information input by the user via the operation unit 35 with respect to the thumbnail displayed on the display unit 36 and outputs the information to the display processing unit 45. For example, the direction acquisition unit 47 acquires direction information based on the direction in which the thumbnail is dragged or flicked. Further, as will be described later, the division condition acquisition unit 46 also acquires the center position of each display area of the main image display area. As in the second embodiment, each unit is realized by software.

  Next, an overall processing procedure by the control unit 37 in the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 and 11. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of processing performed by the control unit 37. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a method for a user to input direction information for the thumbnail 103 shown in FIG. An arrow 115 is a mouse pointer, for example, and represents position information controlled by the operation unit 35. R10 is a circle centered at the position indicated by the arrow 115. When the right direction of the arrow 115 is 0 °, the points where the straight lines extending from the center O in the directions of 0 °, 90 °, 180 °, 270 ° and the circle R10 intersect with each other are points A, B, C, D.

  The processing in steps S1000 to S1002 is the same as the processing in steps S200 to S202 in the first embodiment. Further, the processing in step S1003 is the same as the processing in step S701 in the second embodiment. The process in step S1004 is the same as the process in step S203 in the first embodiment.

  In step S1005, the user inputs direction information to the thumbnail division area selected in step S1004 via the operation unit 35. For example, the direction information is input by dragging the partial area 123 of the thumbnail 103 shown in FIG. 3B in an arbitrary direction using a pointing device (not shown). Alternatively, when the display unit 36 is a touch panel monitor, direction information may be input to the partial area 123 of the thumbnail 103 using an operation method generally called flick. For example, in FIG. 11, the direction information 0 ° is input by flipping (flicking) the thumbnail 103 in the direction of A with a finger. Further, for example, the direction information 225 ° is input by flicking (flicking) with a finger in the direction along the line segment L20 shown just between the line segment OC and the line segment OD.

  In step S1006, the display processing unit 45 selects one of the plurality of display areas of the main image display area according to the division condition of the main image display area acquired in step S1003 and the direction information acquired in step S1005. . Then, the display processing unit 45 displays medical image data corresponding to the selected thumbnail in the selected display area. At this time, the display is performed under display conditions corresponding to the partial area selected in step S1004. The selected partial area is a partial area in the thumbnail specified by the start position of dragging or flicking, for example. The display conditions are determined by the method shown in step S204 in the first embodiment or the first modification of the first embodiment.

  A case will be described in which the direction information input in step S1005 with respect to the partial region 123 of the thumbnail 103 shown in FIG. 3B is in the range of 0 ° to 90 ° shown in FIG. In this case, the direction information is interpreted as the upper right direction, and the medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail 103 corresponds to the partial area 123 in the display area 110 arranged at the upper right of the main image display area 102 in FIG. It is displayed with the display conditions. When the input direction information is in the range of 90 ° to 180 °, the medical image data is displayed in the display area 108 of the main image display area 102 under display conditions corresponding to the partial area 123. If the input direction information is in the range of 180 ° to 270 °, the medical image data is displayed in the display area 109 of the main image display area 102 under display conditions corresponding to the partial area 123. Furthermore, when the input direction information is in the range of 270 ° to 0 °, the medical image data is displayed in the display area 111 of the main image display area 102 under display conditions corresponding to the partial area 123.

  The relationship between the range of input direction information and the display area selected thereby will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. In FIG. 12A, the main image display area 102 is divided into four display areas (display areas 108 to 111). However, the sizes of the display areas 108 to 111 are not all uniform, and the arrangement is also different from that in FIG. Oa indicates the center of the main image display area 102, Ob indicates the center of the display area 108, Oc indicates the center of the display area 109, Od indicates the center of the display area 110, and Oe indicates the center of the display area 111. Indicates the center. In FIG. 12B, a circle centered on Oa is represented as R20. A line segment equally dividing the angle formed by Ob → Oa → Oe is L21, a line segment equally dividing the angle formed by Ob → Oa → Oc is L22, and a line segment equally dividing the angle formed by Oct → Oa → Od is L23. A line segment equally dividing the angle formed by Od → Oa → Oe is defined as L24. Also, the intersection of line segments L21 and R20 is E, the intersection of line segments L22 and R20 is F, the intersection of line segments L23 and R20 is G, and the intersection of line segments L24 and R20 is H. Here, when the input direction information is in the range of the angle formed by E → Oa → F, the display area 108 having the center Ob within the range is selected. Similarly, when the input direction information is in a range of angles formed by F → Oa → G, the display area 109 is selected. Similarly, when the input direction information is in a range of angles formed by G → Oa → H, the display area 110 is selected. Similarly, the display area 111 is selected when the input direction information is in the range of the angle formed by H → Oa → E.

  Thus, by determining the direction information range according to the angle formed by the center of each display region and the center of the main image display region, the display region corresponding to the direction information range can be determined. . When the division condition of the main image display area is (l, n, m) = (9, 3, 3), the central display area cannot be selected by the method described above. In such a case, the selection may be made by performing an operation different from the operation for inputting the direction information for the thumbnail. Here, the different operations are operations such as pinch-in, pinch-out, and double tap on the touch panel. However, these operations are examples, and other operations may be used.

  The process of step S1007 is the same process as the process of step S205 in the first embodiment, and it is determined whether or not there has been an instruction to end interpretation. If there is an instruction to end the interpretation, the process of FIG. 10 is terminated. If there is no instruction to end the interpretation, the process returns to step S1003.

  As described above, according to the medical image display apparatus according to the third embodiment, the following effects can be obtained. In other words, by giving direction information to an arbitrary partial area of an arbitrary thumbnail, the direction information is added to a display area determined according to the input direction information for medical image data corresponding to the thumbnail. Can be displayed under display conditions corresponding to the partial area. Therefore, it is possible to provide a medical image display apparatus and a medical image display method that can display an image in a display region intended by the user with a display operation intended by the user with little effort.

  As described above, according to each of the above embodiments, a partial area corresponding to the anatomical area is set in the reduced image displayed on the thumbnail, and the display condition corresponding to the anatomical area corresponds to the partial area. Attached. Since an arbitrary partial area among the set partial areas can be specified by the thumbnail selection operation, the user can specify medical image data to be displayed and a display condition thereof by the thumbnail selection operation. Therefore, there is an effect that data corresponding to the selected thumbnail can be displayed in the main image display area under an arbitrary display condition with few operations by the user.

  In each of the above embodiments, the thumbnail display area and the main image display area are displayed on the same display screen. However, the thumbnail display area and the main image display area may be displayed on separate displays. Further, in obtaining the display conditions corresponding to the partial area of the thumbnail, the association between the partial area and the anatomical part as shown in FIG. 3C is managed, and the partial area is based on the anatomical part. Although the display condition corresponding to is acquired, it is not limited to this. For example, display conditions may be managed by directly associating each partial area with the display conditions of the specified partial area. In that case, the display condition is the column of the anatomical region in FIG.

  The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

10: Image display device, 21: LAN, 22: Database, 31: Communication interface, 32: ROM, 33: RAM, 34: Storage unit, 35: Operation unit, 36: Display unit, 37: Control unit, 41: Medical Image acquisition unit, 42: Image region acquisition unit, 43: Thumbnail creation unit, 44: Selection region acquisition unit, 45: Display processing unit, 46: Division condition acquisition unit, 47: Direction acquisition unit

Claims (16)

A display control device for displaying medical image data,
Generating means for generating a thumbnail for selecting the medical image data using a reduced image obtained from the medical image data;
In accordance with the anatomical region obtained from the medical image data, setting means for setting a partial region in the thumbnail,
An acquisition means for acquiring a display condition corresponding to the partial area specified by the instruction in response to an instruction to select the displayed thumbnail;
A display control device comprising: display control means for causing the display means to display the medical image data using the display condition acquired by the acquisition means in response to the instruction.   The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display condition is a display condition for an anatomical region corresponding to a partial region specified by the instruction.   The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display condition includes a condition for gradation conversion for displaying the medical image data on the display unit.   4. The display condition according to claim 1, wherein the display condition includes at least one of information for designating an enlargement ratio when the medical image data is displayed on the display means and a center position when the medical image data is displayed. The display control apparatus according to any one of the above.   5. The display control unit according to claim 1, wherein the display control means displays the medical image data in one of a plurality of display areas for displaying medical image data in accordance with the instruction. The display control apparatus according to item 1.   The display control means sets a display condition corresponding to the partial area specified by the pointer at the start of dragging in response to the thumbnail being dragged and dropped into one display area of the plurality of display areas. The display control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the medical image data is used to display the medical image data in the one display area. The display control means includes
Associating a plurality of divided areas obtained by dividing the thumbnail according to the arrangement of the plurality of display areas with the plurality of display areas;
The display control apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the medical image data is displayed in a display area corresponding to a divided area specified by the instruction among the plurality of display areas.   The display control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the display control unit draws or overlay-displays a dividing line indicating a boundary of the divided region on the thumbnail. The display control means includes
Selecting one of the plurality of display areas based on a direction in which the thumbnail is dragged or flicked;
6. The display control according to claim 5, wherein the medical image data is displayed in the selected display area using a display condition associated with a partial area specified by a drag or flick start position. apparatus.   The anatomical region acquired by the setting unit is determined according to a modality used for acquiring the medical image data and an imaging region, according to any one of claims 1 to 9. The display control apparatus described.   The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit draws or overlays a dividing line indicating a boundary of the partial area on the thumbnail.   The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction is performed by a pointer operated by a pointing device.   The display control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display condition is determined based on a modality used for acquiring the medical image data and an anatomical region corresponding to the partial region. A display control device according to any one of claims 1 to 13,
And a display means for displaying the thumbnail and the medical image data. A display control method for a medical image display device, comprising:
Generating a thumbnail for selecting the medical image data using a reduced image obtained from the medical image data; and
According to the anatomical region obtained from the medical image data, a setting step for setting a partial region in the thumbnail;
In response to an instruction to select the thumbnail being displayed, an acquisition step of acquiring display conditions corresponding to the partial area specified by the instruction;
A display control step of displaying the medical image data on a display unit using the display condition acquired in the acquisition step in response to the instruction.   The program for making a computer perform each process of the display control method described in Claim 15.

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